9/17/2008

Tri-Council Varsity Challenge

Over this last weekend, my son and I went to the Tri-Council Varsity Challenge. He was the only member of his team that wanted to go, so I worked out a deal with another team. Mike would go with them and I'd come along as a second leader, only the backed out a couple of days before the trip. I wish both groups had gone, it was a great activity.

I got to meet an internet friend, Dave Muncey, face to face. We sat at the feet or Pres Burgess (1st Counselor in the LDS Young Men's Presidency) and were taught about the importance of Scouting and the Varsity Program. We had fun at the opening concert (Jon Schmidt and his son's band "Painting the Finish Line". And all that happened on the first night.

Things got more involved the second day. Saturday kicked off with a ~4,500 scout glag ceremony. After that, we moved on to a series of activities that highlighted the five areas of emphasis in the Varisty Program:

Advancement

High Adventure/Sports

Service

Special Programs and Events

Personal Development

Most of the activities were things that could be brought back into a unit and expanded on over the course of one or more meetings. It was really neat to see examples of things that could be mixed into a Varsity Team's schedule to add a bit more excitement.

If you weren't there, you missed out. I sure hope they do something similar next year, I'd love to go again -- only this time I'm going to do a better job selling it to the Varsity Teams I interact with.